The most controversial word in the whistleblower hearing: 'Shall'

Like Bill Clinton and the definition of "is," impeachment and auxiliary verbs go hand in hand

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images, Marat Musabirov/iStock)

There was once a swimmer in Northumbria heard shouting: "I will drown and nobody shall save me!" The coroner's jury was divided at the inquest. The English jurors said that the man had plainly committed suicide. The Scots insisted that he had drowned. Only McTavish had the good sense to ask why none of the witnesses had bothered rescuing the poor fellow.

Would you believe me if I told you that the key to understanding Thursday's two-hour long House Intelligence Committee hearing on Donald Trump's phone call with the president of Ukraine can be found in a single monosyllabic verb in this ancient joke about a fictional drowning victim in the Anglo-Scottish borderlands? The impeachment of Bill Clinton was intrinsically bound up in his existential musings about the meaning of "is." Now the success of Democrats' latest salvo against Trump depends upon the precise definition of "shall." (What is it about auxilliary verbs, I wonder?)

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.